Ouch
by Mirrankei
Summary: Giftfic for MuffinSurprise. Kariya and Uzuki fluff, just after the Game's end. What the heck happened?


"Ouch," was his first thought upon waking. It was a perfectly logical thing to think – his whole body was sore, as if he had fallen flat on his face from the top of a high building to the city floor. Repeatedly. A few parts felt burnt, as well. How unpleasant. It might be better if he just went back to sleep.

There was a quiet groan from somewhere off to his left. Or maybe his right. He was a bit disoriented.

"Hey," a feminine voice said after while. He chose not to respond. It would be much nicer to just keep lying there.

"I said _hey_," the voice repeated, and something prodded him in the side. Unsurprisingly, it hurt. "You still alive over there?"

"No," he replied. "Not for years and years."

"You know what I mean."

"…Yeah, I guess I'm still here."

"Hmph."

He reluctantly opened his eyes. The sky was very, very blue. Too blue, he thought. Slowly, he heaved his torso upwards so he could sit up. It took some effort. It also was very, very painful. On the bright side, he was no longer lying with his wings folded under him at odd angles, so there was a bit of relief.

"Ouch," he said again. "What the hell happened?"

"No idea," his companion replied. She sat facing him, leaning on her knees with a bent elbow. Her sweater was torn in a lot of places, and the skin on her thighs that he could see were covered in bruises and scrapes. She seemed to have unlaced her corset for better breathing. Her pink hair was extremely mussed up. And it was very pink. Was it always that pink? He thought it used to be more salmon-colored. He also discovered that he couldn't really make out her facial features.

"Uzuki," he asked, realizing the problem, "Have you seen my glasses?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Sorry." A thoughtful pause, then, "You look like shit."

Kariya grinned. "Yeah, you too. From what I can make out, anyway. Are those wheel tracks on your face?"

She giggled half-heartedly. "I wouldn't be surprised. Hurts like hell. But your hair looks like it might have been on fire for a bit."

He ran his hand through it, and felt something crinkle into dust. "Looks like it," he confirmed, looking at the ash on his fingers. He glanced up at her with a crooked grin. "I wonder who the hell we were fighting?"

Despite Uzuki's soreness, she somehow managed to lunge to her feet. "I have no idea," she began, "But they sure better hope I NEVER FIND OUT! If I do they're DEAD! ERASED! YOU HEAR ME?!"

"I hear you," Kariya said, rubbing his ear for emphasis. He found her temper rather endearing, but his head was pounding, and the sounds of her enraged screeching were not helping. "And so does every other Reaper in Shibuya, I'll bet."

Uzuki looked around. "Where _are_ the other Reapers?" she asked. "I don't see anybody."

This was true. Normally when something was strong enough to beat two high-class Harriers, the little suck ups would come running to help. But there were no signs of any Wall Reapers, nor Players, nor even…

"For that matter," Kariya said carefully, "where have all the living people gone?"

The normally crowded streets of Shibuya were completely devoid of life, both in UG and RG realms. The city's lights were still on, the doors to the shops still open, the signs on their windows still turned to "Open" and "Irrashaimase!"

"…This is creepy," Uzuki said, though she didn't sound particularly worried.

"Yeah," Kariya agreed, and slowly got to his feet. Ouch. Again. "Wonder what happened." He looked around the empty streets.

Uzuki waited for him to continue, but he just stood around and stared at the buildings. When she'd had enough of the silence, she said, "Maybe we should, oh, I dunno, take a look _around?_ Maybe try to FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED?"

He blinked at her, as if he couldn't quite comprehend her words. "I'm sure someone would tell us if we needed to do anything. We should just wait 'til ol' Kitaniji sends someone."

Uzuki gaped at him. "Are you CRAZY?!" She exploded. "This is no time to slack off! I knew you were lazy, but I thought the COMPLETE LACK OF PEOPLE might inspire you to DO SOMETHING for once!"

Kariya rubbed the ear that had been unfortunate enough to get the brunt of Uzuki's tirade, but otherwise ignored her. Instead, he fished around in his pocket for a dango. _Success! _he thought, and pulled out a stick, only to find both ends empty. He sighed. "I wonder if we can still get any ramen."

Uzuki stomped her foot. "Is that all you ever think about?!" she demanded, but turned on her heel to stomp away in the direction of the shop. Kariya followed more calmly, marveling at her apparent prowess at ignoring her injuries. He could hear her muttering to herself, "…lazy-ass, only thing that gets him moving is ramen or candy…"

The pair didn't get very far before coming across more Reapers. They were just Wall Guards, but they looked to be in equally bad shape as the Harriers themselves, and were still out cold. Even Uzuki's infamous death threats couldn't wake them.

"This is so screwed up," she complained again, and though she sounded calm, Kariya couldn't help but notice that she had gotten her gun out, as if she thought they could be attacked again at any second.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation," Kariya said soothingly. "What's the last thing you remember before you woke up?"

"What's the last thing YOU remember?!" she countered angrily. At his look, she sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Okay, okay. Um… You and I were being Game Masters… you sent those brats on a treasure hunt, and we fought them, and you gave them the pin, but it was a fake."

"Right," Kariya said. "I remember that."

"Then we talked about Shibuya, and you said it was dying or something, and we said we'd work together and go up in the ranks and change it!"

"Right."

"And then…"

"And then…"

They both stared at each other. "And then I have no idea," Uzuki said. "I think I got a headache or something, and like…fainted?"

"You started moaning…" Kariya confirmed, thoughtfully. "And then my head hurt, too…"

They stood in silence for a while. Uzuki stared hard at the sky, trying to remember what happened. Kariya looked down at the unconscious Wall Reapers.

"O-Pins," he murmured.

"What?"

"O-Pins!" He pointed to one of the Reaper's shirts. "We all had to wear them, remember? And all the RG-ers were wearing them, too…"

Uzuki stared. "You think those little pins did this?!"

"Pins can do an awful lot," he replied. "And remember, I was talking about how Shibuya's thoughts were harmonizing? I think maybe…"

"…someone was controlling us?"

"Yeah. Exactly."

Uzuki threw her hands up in frustration. "But we were told to wear them by the Conductor himself! You think that the Composer would ever approve something like-"

"Beep beep beep!"

A chorus of cell phones interrupted Uzuki's protest. She blinked in surprise, and pulled her own out of her pocket. Kariya tried to follow suit, but discovered his was missing.

"Must have fallen out during our mystery fight," he offered, and stood behind her to read the text message over her shoulder.

_Due to the unexpected results of the past three weeks, Shibuya will be undergoing reconstruction for the following week. The results of this three-week Game have resulted in the unfortunate and unnecessary erasure of many Reapers and Players, and the termination of the current Conductor. All Reapers and Players erased by means outside the regular rules of the Game (i.e. Taboo Noise) shall be returned to the UG when reconstruction is finished at the end of the week. No Games will be held until the post of Conductor has been filled. _

_My apologies for the inconvenience,_

_The Composer of Shibuya._

Kariya pushed his nonexistent glasses up his nose. "I had no idea you could have a text message that long." He stepped away from his partner and stretched his arms out over his head. "Well, it looks like we've got a vacation for the next week. I think maybe I'll head back to my apartment and take a nap. What do you think?" There was no response. The Harrier turned back to see his companion still staring at her cell phone screen, a blank expression on her face. "Uzuki?"

She slowly turned to look up at him. "Vacation?" she asked. "_Vacation?_" Kariya felt a chill as her familiarly homicidal grin made itself reacquainted with her face. It was normally directed towards unfortunate Players, not himself.

"Are you CRAZY?!" She shouted. "Didn't you read the message?! The post of _CONDUCTOR _is _AVAILABLE!_ We have to get down to the River and make sure the Composer knows we're here to help!" She grinned to herself and started speed walking towards Hachiko. "Imagine! Me, _Conductor!_ And you can be my Game Master! I bet if we help out during reconstruction, we'll have promotions in no time! We can remake Shibuya, just like we were saying! It'll be–!"

Kariya cut her off by grabbing her wrist and swinging her around to face him. Smiling, he pulled her close and kissed her forehead, effectively shutting her up. He looked at her with a placating smile and said, "Ramen first."

She blushed slightly and smiled back. "Ramen first," she agreed. "You're paying."

Her passionate kiss on his lips sealed the agreement.


End file.
